Luxury Condos On Former Pagoda Site Could Break Ground This Month

Luxury Condos On Former Pagoda Site Could Break Ground This MonthFormer Pagoda Palace site. (Photo: Geri Koeppel/Hoodline)
Geri Koeppel
Published on January 06, 2016

A set of luxury condos on the site of the former Pagoda Palace Theater in North Beach could start construction as early as the end of January, according to developerJoel Campos' real estate broker.

"We’re waiting for a permit," broker Martin Kirkwood told us. "We changed our scope of our shoring and excavation. We did reapply for permits and we’re waiting for review. We’re hoping to get that permit in the next two weeks and hope to start thereafter. We’re looking at end of January to break ground."

In September, we reported that property owner Campos was moving forward with plans to build the Palace at Washington Square, a set of 19 luxury condos, a roughly 4,700-square-foot restaurant and a maximum of 27 underground parking spaces at 1731 Powell St. Following that, former District 3 Supervisor Julie Christensen and her colleague, Scott Wiener, announced they were urging the city to acquire the land instead for a future Central Subway station.


The former Pagoda Theater. (Photo: SFMTA/centralsubwayblog.com)

Christensen's office then requested that the city's Budget and Legislative Analyst review the status of the site for a subway stop, along with alternative station site options. The policy analysis report came out saying that the former Pagoda Palace property "is an opportune site for the station as the Central Subway tunnel is already excavated directly below it." (It was used for removing tunnel boring machines.) But it issued this big caveat: "However, the owner of the Pagoda Palace site has not expressed interest in selling the site to the City, and holds entitlements to develop the site into 19 residential units above a restaurant."

Campos is allowed to build the project because the city created a special use district (SUD), which allows a height limit of 55 feet—the height of the previous Pagoda Palace Theater, including the blade sign—and a new restaurant. The report states, "The SUD will sunset on April 5, 2018, five years after its implementation, so the owner has until this time to begin construction."

The report outlines three other sites that could be used for the subway stop: 659 Columbus, the Piazza Pellegrini site; 721 Filbert St., a public parking garage; and the "Park Triangle," a 2,730-square-foot triangle of parkland located across Columbus Avenue from Washington Square Park, and across Powell Street from The Square restaurant. All are on the western side of Columbus Avenue, in close proximity to each other and to the Pagoda Palace site.


Illustration: Budget and Legislative Analyst

Some believe Kirkwood and Campos aren't serious about building on the lot, but are using the threat of condos as a bargaining chip to extract the right price from the city. "We have had no conversations with any part of the city on purchase or sale of the property," Kirkwood said. "That train’s already left the station” (no pun intended). He added, "Funding is not even on the horizon" for purchasing the land. Others have questioned whether Campos will fill the site and sell it off to another developer.

For his part, newly-elected Supervisor Aaron Peskin said he supports a "robust, full, community planning process" for any subway expansion.